When Love Goes Wrong

Chapter 6: Manhattan: Few hours later.

Author's note: Yes it says Avengers Mansion. I'm kind of blending comics into the movie version of the Avengers. I'm sorry if that confused anyone. And this is after the battle of Manhattan.

Adeen followed Nick down the hall with butterflies in her stomach. She was still in her security uniform. She held onto the strap of her backpack with a sweaty, shaky hand. Adeen nervously looked around. Some of the agents stopped what they were doing and stared or glared at her; only here for Nick Fury's safety. They would then start whispering into their neighbor's ear. Adeen looked straight ahead and stopped at the same time as Nick. They were at the door of the conference room. Adeen didn't show it, but she was freaking out inside. She was about to face her team mates, her friends, the only family she truly had left.

"Why did Nick want us here again??" Tony asked, pacing a little.

"Again, Tony, I have no clue." Clint answered, beginning to get annoyed with Tony's constant questioning.

"Will you two just knock it off? God, your bickering made Bruce leave the room, and he was only in here for five minutes."

"Steve, I think you need to stop worrying about us and worry about yourself." Tony sarcastically told him.

Steve stood up and got in Tony's face, eyes narrowed angrily, towering over the philanthropist.

"You wanna go, Stark?" Steve said in a threatening tone, challenging Tony.

"We all know who would win." Tony answered with a sarcastic smile following the remark.

Before anything could start up, the conference room door slid open to reveal Nick entering. The three men backed away from each other a couple of inches. They noticed someone enter the room behind Nick but they were concealed.

"Where's Banner?" Nick asked.

"He left because of those two bickering." Steve explained, acknowledging Tony and Clint.

"What are we even doing here, Fury?" Tony asked, ignoring Steve's gesture.

"I think she can explain that for herself." Nick answered in a rather mysterious and confusing way, stepping aside to reveal who accompanied him into the room.

Shock was written on the three Avengers faces.

Adeen stood there. She felt as if she were in the spotlight with all eyes on her. Adeen hated that feeling. She hated being the center of attention; always had since she was a child. People may have thought she did and may have thought she was being selfish with some of her actions, but she was the most generous person anyone had ever met. She hated being interviewed by people, she did not like being in tabloids or on television. Adeen began to become even more paranoid at the expressions on her team's face and the silence following.

Tony smiled and walked over to Adeen, wrapping his arms around her shoulders pulling her into a hug.

"Nice to have you back, Lasher. I missed my bud."

Adeen returned the embrace, adding a sheepish smile.

"Thanks, Tony..." she slyly said.

Tony stepped away and standing there was Clint. He looked annoyed, a little angry, but mostly relieved. He did not approach her but smiled sweetly at her.

"Good to see you, O'Sullivan." he greeted.

"Good to see you too, Barton." Adeen greeted, trying hard to bite back the bitterness in her tone after hearing how he was treating Bruce.

Adeen jumped a little when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. Her paranoia began to get worse when she knew who it was. The color flushed from her face. She knew it was the Steve. Many people didn't know this, but the Captain was one of the people who inspired her to want to help people and protect them from people like her father. When she was little and her father wasn't around, she would read about everything he did to help the war. Steve didn't even know about this. Now she was standing there, shaking because she knocked him unconscious six months ago.